Any UK users here that have purchased from overseas?

As I look around for website to purchase a new Japanese knife, I continue to find US sites. I've found a few UK-based places, but they have a much smaller selection than the others. Has anyone ever ordered from Canada? or the States? I'm assuming that I must add VAT to the price (except for purchasing from the States), but what about customs? Are there really price savings in looking outside the UK? Does the Uk permit the knives to enter the country? I know that camping knives have problems being imported. If I recall correctly, the Royal Mail and FedEx do not deliver knives in the UK. What is the basic process for shopping outside the UK?

thanks in advance,
m

Koki at Japanese Chefs Knives dot com. Aka "JCK" is a very good place to start. I would also recommend Maksim at Japanese Natural Stones for first rate knives. Ordering from North America will usually incur 20% VAT, 8.5% customs duty and also may incur a courier holding fee (e.g. Parcelforce do this, it's about £12 iirc).

I've never had a problem getting kitchen knives from North America or Japan regarding legality/customs.

There are very meagre pickings at competitive prices in the UK, also there are some absolute charlatans (Japanese Knife Company) for example.

Yeah, expect customs fees and a handling fee, but no legal problems. I think it's only eBay that have a ban on buying knives for UK delivery.

Timthebeaver said:

Koki at Japanese Chefs Knives dot com. Aka "JCK" is a very good place to start. I would also recommend Maksim at Japanese Natural Stones for first rate knives. Ordering from North America will usually incur 20% VAT, 8.5% customs duty and also may incur a courier holding fee (e.g. Parcelforce do this, it's about £12 iirc).

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Although I'm in the Netherlands I can second the recommendation for JCK. No shipment charge on anything above $100 and shipment is pretty fast (usually 4-6 days maximum).
Ordering from US or Canada is of course possible but I have never found any place that didn't come with unfavourably high shipping costs to Europe.

Also, there are some EU based shops (Dutch, German, Japanese)... those are usually pretty safe as you're guaranteed to not pay any custom costs. Shipping can vary though, but it's usually less than US.

I've know Maksim for years from my straight razor days, and generally like the knives he caries, but most of them are out of stock for long periods of time. I've also purchased from Cutting Edge knives and like their selection and service, but they too are often out of stock. JCK just looks dodgy, and while i'm sure that they will actually sell me a knife, I don't have a great deal of confidence in them. A very old and weird website will do that to a company. The only other places I've considered are Knifewear in Canada, and CKTG in the States but have no idea what kind of international drama awaits. When I did the math on the exchange rates and duties and shipping, Knifewear didn't really offer an advantage.

I'd like to find a new Gyuto, and am leaning towards a Masakage because I own a Koishi Santoku and am very impressed, but am not sure if I want a Yuki or not, and am not sure if a 240 or a 210 will work for me. I'd consider another if I could find something else in the Uk. I'll be upgrading from a Shun Clasic 8inch Chef's, and while it's very sharp (I maintain it on stones and strops) I simply want a new Japanese carbon. It's really that simple. Finding one in the UK is hard though.

I've sent stuff to the UK, not received it there. I'd say buys from Japan would work best, if not the EU. EMS is affordable. Also, if you ask Japanese sellers they'll usually be willing to complete packing forms according to your requests.

Cleancut.se from Sweden
Japanese knives company UK
Coltelleria collini Italy
Japanese natural stones danimark

Curmudgeon said:

I've know Maksim for years from my straight razor days, and generally like the knives he caries, but most of them are out of stock for long periods of time. I've also purchased from Cutting Edge knives and like their selection and service, but they too are often out of stock. JCK just looks dodgy, and while i'm sure that they will actually sell me a knife, I don't have a great deal of confidence in them. A very old and weird website will do that to a company. The only other places I've considered are Knifewear in Canada, and CKTG in the States but have no idea what kind of international drama awaits. When I did the math on the exchange rates and duties and shipping, Knifewear didn't really offer an advantage.

I'd like to find a new Gyuto, and am leaning towards a Masakage because I own a Koishi Santoku and am very impressed, but am not sure if I want a Yuki or not, and am not sure if a 240 or a 210 will work for me. I'd consider another if I could find something else in the Uk. I'll be upgrading from a Shun Clasic 8inch Chef's, and while it's very sharp (I maintain it on stones and strops) I simply want a new Japanese carbon. It's really that simple. Finding one in the UK is hard though.

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Lol Koki is one of the oldest and most reputable vendors. Wouldn't worry about the website, quite sure he updates it himself.

Curmudgeon said:

JCK just looks dodgy, and while i'm sure that they will actually sell me a knife, I don't have a great deal of confidence in them.

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You couldn't be more wrong. Koki is one of the most reputable dealers out there. I've purchased several knives from him and never had an issue.

By the way, JCK predates Maksim by several years.

Rick

spoiledbroth said:

Lol Koki is one of the oldest and most reputable vendors. Wouldn't worry about the website, quite sure he updates it himself.

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Pensacola Tiger said:

You couldn't be more wrong. Koki is one of the most reputable dealers out there. I've purchased several knives from him and never had an issue.

By the way, JCK predates Maksim by several years.

Rick

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Word.

I've ordered from JCK (to Canada) many times and have never had problems. They just haven't modernized their website. The thought that a flashy website is a direct indication of being reputable is silly.

I've also ordered internationally from Maksim at JNS a lot and hope to keep that going when/if the knives I'm after become available again

Yeah I'd go with JCK or Maksim if I were you. I've ordered a lot of knives, a few from the US and a few from various vendors in Japan and through Koki was the only time I didn't have to pay the import fees. When I did pay fees they ranged from £20-£80 and it's a PITA going through it, Parcelforce will hold your parcel until you pay the fees so it adds about 2 weeks to the shipping time

I'd stay well clear of any UK website vendors, they're generally snake oil salesmen who overcharge massively

All my knives have been imported from overseas and I have never had any problems.

You will be liable for VAT on all purchases outside of the EU, and ParcelForce will charge you £12 for processing it.

Koki (JCK) is the man you need. It's completely the opposite of what you're thinking, in reality he's so highly regarded that he just doesn't need to spend the time or money on a new shiny site in order to attract customers. Bear in mind that with very little knowledge and about £5 a week you can easily transfer over to hosted e-commerce such as Shopify and have a completely professional looking site - it speaks volumes that Koki simply hasn't needed to.

This is all very good news. Perhaps I simply needed a personal recommendation. I'll go back to JCK and take a closer look. Thanks a lot guys!

Koki (JCK) is a really great vendor, he might not have the easiest to navigate website but he is great to talk to, his return policy is awesome (I've returned knives no questions asked) and he's generally a really nice fellow.

He doesn't seem to carry much these days that people talk about but I really think he provdes an awesome service. I've rarely had a package from him take more than 3 business days to arrive and he just uses EMS-- he ships knives NOT in a box which is a little sketchy though he marks them FRAGILE (must be Italian) but I've yet to have any problem with that.

FWIW his website is a frontpage or dreamweaver type output (these are What You See Is What You Get website editors somewhat similar to Microsoft Word) which means that when he does his Xmas sale he needs to update the prices by hand - this is no easy task as he puts most of his stock on discount. Whether he does it or not I'm not entirely sure, but it's less of a turn key solution than something like shopify and it implies someone over in Japan is working really hard on those pages. Plus whoever takes the photos there is great, though they may not have choil shots etc and not as slick as JKI they are actually quite artistic. :wink:

Last but not least he has all the Sukenari irate1:

spoiledbroth said:

Last but not least he has all the Sukenari irate1:

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More importantly he has Mizuno and he'll act as an intermediary/ translator for custom orders. :dance:

+1 to JCK. Bought from them twice, parcels arrived in Germany in a matter of a few days. Perfect shopping experience, would buy from JCK any day if something comes up that tickles my wanna-have urge. FWIW I bought from Maksim and James of K&S in Australia, as well, which both provided equally perfect buyers experiences.

MAS4T0 said:

More importantly he has Mizuno and he'll act as an intermediary/ translator for custom orders. :dance:

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Yep, that's why one day he'll be recieving an order for me for a honyaki Mizuno.

I have ordered a number of times from him and he is 100% reliable and very fast - definitely recommended by me.

+1 for Koki, solid seller.

MAS4T0 said:

More importantly he has Mizuno and he'll act as an intermediary/ translator for custom orders. :dance:

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How'd it go when you ordered your lefty suminagashi gyuto? For example, did it cost extra and what was the turnaround time? I'm waiting for the Sukenari 270 to come back in stock after selling my 240, but a mizuno would cost just a bit more (presuming the lefty change is free lol). I must admit I like the tip profile more on the Sukenari though

tjangula said:

How'd it go when you ordered your lefty suminagashi gyuto? For example, did it cost extra and what was the turnaround time? I'm waiting for the Sukenari 270 to come back in stock after selling my 240, but a mizuno would cost just a bit more (presuming the lefty change is free lol). I must admit I like the tip profile more on the Sukenari though

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Everything was fantastic and there were no additional fees.

I'll PM you full details.

well.... there are a few knives at JCK that I could really be interested in. Hmmmmm

one of the many Sukenari Gyutos here http://www.japanesechefsknife.com/SukenariSpecials.html#SukenariSpecials

or the Mizuno Akitada Hontanren Series gyutos Akitada Hontanren Series

They are both at the outside limit of my budget, they are interesting to consider. Otherwise I'm looking at a Masakage Koishi or Yuki or an Itinomonn from Maksim, though I'm not sure what this "Stain-less" steel is, and I enjoy considering steel

The kurouchi it s not stainless

All (10 ish) were from US/Japan except my ZKramer (Germany)